Up until now there has been no international guidelines on quality and performance of pneumatic rubber fender, which plays an important role in ship's safe berthing operation.

With a high focus on safety issues, the industry and ship operators have expressed concerns about the use of low quality fenders that would increase the risk of berthing incidents. In the event of ship to ship or ship to jetty contact during berthing, possible damage to the hull may result in cargo or bunkers leakage. Although not openly publicized, incidents involving the use of low quality pneumatic fenders had been reported and therefore actions to eliminate the risk of spillage of petroleum products, particularly crude oil and heavy oil, or LPG gas that may occur because of lower quality products need to be taken to protect the environment. The ISO 17357 is created as part of such actions, combining the expertise of pneumatic fender manufacturers with the experience of its users from various countries all around the world to provide a highly needed technical reference about the necessary product standard for pneumatic rubber fenders. With the establishment of the ISO 17357, the required high performance and quality of floating pneumatic fenders for safe berthing operations will be ensured.

Yokohama Pneumatic Floating Fenders are witnessed and certified having fully complied yet exceed to the ISO 17357's minimum requirement.